Barbara Mankowitz

12:01AM BST 20 Sep 2002

Barbara Mankowitz, who has died aged 75, was for more than three decades a dominant personality in the retail china trade, making an important contribution to British exports by selling Wedgwood china to collectors overseas.

The shop she established during the late 1940s in Piccadilly Arcade with her brother, the playwright Wolf Mankowitz, became a major international outlet for Wedgwood as well as an important one for Spode. Its name, Gered - taken from Wolf's eldest son, Gered Mankowitz, a successful photographer in the 1960s - became synonymous with fine china.

The contribution of the business to Britain's balance of payments made it eligible year after year for an export award, but Barbara Mankowitz never applied for one. When urged by friends to seek recognition for her export success, she would reply that she was not interested in awards.

The daughter of Jewish immigrants from Russia, Barbara Mankowitz was born in London on April 12 1927. She went to East Ham Grammar School and then the local technical college. She began her business life in her father's antiques shop in East Ham High Street at the age of 16 while her brother, who died two years ago, was at Downing College, Cambridge.

The pair set up their West End shop while Wolf was making his name as a playwright. As he worked in his office above the shop writing his plays The Bespoke Overcoat (1953) and A Kid for Two Farthings (1954), his sister sold Wedgwood downstairs.

Their customers included Wolf's showbusiness friends John Osborne, Leonard Bernstein, Sir Carol Reed and Peter Sellers. Laurence Harvey bought identical Wedgwood dinner services for each of his three wives.

Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, was a frequent visitor - his introduction to the Hollywood film producer Cubby Broccoli, which led to the series of James Bond films, took place in Wolf's office above the shop.

Barbara Mankowitz began her business in a small way aged 21 selling antique china in a little shop in Piccadilly Arcade. Buying classic Wedgwood pieces in London's sale rooms for selling on to collectors in America, she acquired an encylopaedic knowledge of the firm from its foundation in 1759; while Wolf wrote authoritative books about Wedgwood, she put her knowledge into the business.

Barbara Mankowitz became a major china retailer after Wedgwood opened an account with Gered, providing an increasing volume of business which enabled her to expand her premises in Piccadilly Arcade and open a second shop in Regent Street.

Business from America was helped by the fact that Wedgwood in those days could be bought much more cheaply in London than across the Atlantic. Sammy Davis Jr and Henry Kissinger were among the many Americans who flocked to the Gered shops. Later on, the Japanese also became particularly keen purchasers.

The two shops continued to trade under the Gered name after Wedgwood bought the business in 1976. Barbara Mankowitz stayed on as managing director until she retired in 1987. She died on August 25.